just in case food

[sundial]

I've been thinking alot lately of stocking up on foods with a long shelf life. Since I live near the epicenter of a major fault line and with so many tremors in the news lately, I figured now is the time to start stocking up.

I came across the Mountain House freeze dried meals at Wallyworld and hubby and I tried it and we both give it a thumbs up. I went back and bought 2 other flavors and noted that there was a limited choice of flavors available in my area so I started checking online sources that provide food storage kits. There are several sources that offer kits but I found this one in particular to be helpful in offering video reviews of freeze dried and dehydrated foods:

http://www.theepicenter.com/freeze_d...ehydrated.html

A few other online sources for food storage kits:

http://www.thereadystore.com/
http://www.nitro-pak.com/
http://beprepared.com/
http://www.survival-warehouse.com/

If you have a Costco nearby, I believe they sell food storage items. I'm planning for at least 3 months worth of food that I can store with a minimal amount of space compared to canned goods. And many of these foods have a 7-10, even 30 year shelf life. All you need is hot water and you'll have a good, balanced meal in 10 minutes. Having been through a nasty ice storm I've learned that I need to be prepared with at least 2 weeks of rations at minimum. If the big earthquake should hit it could be a really bad situation and the disaster plan is essentially every man for himself. Hopefully I won't need the food but if I do, I'll be in a better position than being unprepared. And besides, I can take these with me on my bike packing journeys.

[bmccasland]

Make sure you have a water source, and a method to heat the water as well, in your emergency supply kit. Having lived through a few hurricanes, where the tap water wasn't potable for a couple of weeks (after the city was opened to return), it's important to have a water supply too. I wound up raiding my "hurricane" water when my water main line broken last spring. At least I had drinking water.
Know how you plan to heat the water - what kind of fuel will you need. Propane? Is your camp stove in working order? Do you own a camp stove?
My sister has learned that boiling water over a charcoal grill in the winter isn't much fun (she didn't own a camp stove, does now).
Which reminds me, I need to go get some propane for my camp stove, the movers found my stash in my camp box and wouldn't tansport it. Spoil sports.

Thanks for the dried food sources. I kind of got tired of MREs.

[sundial]

Beth, good idea. We do have a camp stove and a BBQ grill that runs on propane as well as my gas stove. I am thinking of getting a Berkley travel water filtration system in case we have to bug out in the worst case scenario.

[PamNY]

Thanks for the food ideas.

I have a Trangia alcohol stove -- because the fuel is safer/easier for me to store in an apartment. I would use the Trangia indoors, briefly, in a shelter-in-place situation.

[Zen]

I have a coke can/denatured alcohol stove

[tulip]

I have a woodstove, but if I were in a big earthquake and my house fell down, I guess that wouldn't be very useful. But it's great when the power goes out because of the ice storms we get.

I don't stock up on tons of food, but it's something I've thought about from time to time.

[PamNY]

Also remember extra food for pets -- which I'm really bad at, since the store I use delivers in about 30 minutes, and I abuse that privilege.

[GLC1968]

Also remember extra food for pets -- which I'm really bad at, since the store I use delivers in about 30 minutes, and I abuse that privilege.

This is our downfalling. We stock up, then use it, then stock up, then use it, then stock up, etc. Depending on when the disaster happens in our pet food cycle, we could be good for a few months or totally screwed. Luckily, all of our pets are good at foraging and we can make due if necessary.

We also figured out which disasters we want to be prepared for and which ones we'll just ride out (since all can be quite different). Living in the 'ring of fire' if things get REALLY bad, we expect to be amongst the first to go in a blaze of lava and rock...so we don't prepare for big earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, massive floods or 'end of the physical world' scenarios. Small weather issues are no problem (blizzards, tornadoes, drought, light flooding). Man-made disasters (peak oil, crashed grid, nuclear war)? We are covered.

[Pedal Wench]

Not much to add but we exclusively use Mountain House foods for camping/emergency meals. We even bring them on our bike tours when waiting in line at restaurants isn't appealling. Love the Turkey Tettrazzini and any of the chicken dishes.